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ARTICLE · 17 OCTOBER 2025

Incident Response Defenses: Can You Take Advantage Of A Cyber Program Safe Harbor?

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We are in the final quarter of the year, which is typically budgeting and planning for many issues, including -hopefully!- data incident preparedness.

United StatesTechnology
Liisa Thomas
Liisa Thomas
Kathryn Smith
Kathryn Smith
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We are in the final quarter of the year, which is typically budgeting and planning for many issues, including -hopefully!- data incident preparedness. Is your organization able to take advantage of one of the growing number of states' safe harbor provisions? In particular, Connecticut, Iowa, Ohio, Oklahoma (beginning January 1, 2026), Oregon, – as of September 2025 Texas (for entities with less than 250 employees) – and Utah provide certain affirmative defenses against claims resulting from data breaches. The safe harbor is available if the company has a "qualified" cybersecurity program. What that means varies by state. 3

For Connecticut, Ohio, Utah, and Texas, the program must protect the confidentiality and security of personal information against threats, as well as against unauthorized access or acquisition that could result in material fraud. In Oregon, the business must use "reasonable" security measures. In Iowa, the program must evaluate and protect

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